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A glum overhead view shows shrinking average home prices in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metro area.

Localized data, however, zeroed in on key population areas, reveal a different, more optimistic real estate landscape.

Regional prices for single-family homes in the metro area that includes Carbondale to Hazleton, for single-family homes fell 6.1 percent in September compared with September last year, according to a report out this month by analytics firm CoreLogic.

The report examines repeat sales of the same homes to explain changes in average sales prices.

Local real estate brokers like to average total sales to track price changes, which paints a starkly different picture. Dramatic outliers likely skew the overall image, they say.

For example, average home prices in the Mid Valley School District dropped 14 percent and in the Carbondale Area School District, average home prices are down 15 percent, according to data from the Greater Scranton Board of Realtors.

On the other hand, key population areas saw notable price growth, the association’s data shows in comparing prices from 2015 and 2016.

“You can do anything with numbers,” said Clarks Summit real estate broker Robert Vanston. “But let’s break that down to the actual and the factual.”

Average sale prices in the Scranton School District rose 6 percent. In the Dunmore district, they were up 8 percent, and in Abington Heights, they were up 4 percent, the local data show.

Sale prices in the Wayne Highlands school district actually saw some of the greatest growth — 33 percent.

“If you have one or two areas that are dragging the numbers down, it doesn’t paint a representation of the larger market,” said Jerry T. McGuire, broker at the McGuire Real Estate Group in Hazleton.

Home prices in and around his city have remained fairly stable, and are incrementally growing, he said.

“All real estate markets are local,” he said. “There’s different factors that influence value — supply, demand — and it could be as small as a small neighborhood.”

On the national level, home prices rose on average 6.3 percent. In Pennsylvania, they were up 2.5 percent.

Alaska was the only state to see its home prices subside slightly, by less than 1 percent.

Looking ahead, CoreLogic predicts national home prices should continue upward another 5.2 percent by September 2017.

Multi-unit dwellings in Lackawanna County, which were not included in the CoreLogic report, plummeted from last year. Mr. Vanston said the market had been wild, with some apartments bought and sold twice in the same year.

“There’s a lot of profit to be had,” he said. “But then, all of the sudden, no one wants to be a landlord, which is not an easy job.”

He tells investors that now looks like a good time to buy. With prices down on average 21 percent, potential landlords could buy investment properties with equity baked in, he said.

Landlords in Hazleton, on the other hand, are scooping up rental properties with fervor.

“So actually, we’re seeing an uptick in the value of those,” he said. “And also the low-priced homes. It’s very hard to find anything under $50,000.”

Contact the writer:

joconnell@timesshamrock.com, @jon_oc on Twitter

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